Tabs

Friday, 19 October 2012

Please read our latest update on the current situation with GTTR Apply 2013:Testing was completed successfully overnight and we have addressed what we believe were the underlying causes of the performance issues experienced on Tuesday. We will be reopening GTTR Apply 2013 this afternoon (Friday 19 October).As we stated in yesterday’s blog update, we will not be processing any applications until Tuesday 23 October to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity. This means that if you have already submitted a 2013 application, or you submit a 2013 application this afternoon, Saturday, Sunday or on Monday, it will be held in our system, until applications are released to institutions at the same time on the morning of Tuesday 23 October.

Thursday, 18 October 2012

We have a further update on GTTR Apply 2013, outlined below. We are very grateful for your patience over the last few days and hope that this update will be good news.

We have
identified and fixed what we believe were the underlying causes of the
performance issues experienced on Tuesday with GTTR Apply 2013.

We have
started testing and this will continue throughout the night until tomorrow, but
early indications are positive.

If testing
is completed successfully, we expect to be able to reopen GTTR Apply 2013
tomorrow afternoon (Friday 19 October). This is earlier than we anticipated.

We mentioned
in our previous updates that we expected GTTR Apply 2013 to be offline until
after the weekend at the very earliest. Therefore, if we are able to open it
earlier, we will not be processing any applications until the morning of
Tuesday 23 October. This is to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to
register and submit their application.

This means
that if you have already submitted a 2013 application, or you submit a 2013
application tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, Sunday or on Monday, it will be held
in our system, until all applications are released to institutions at the same
time on the morning of Tuesday 23 October.

When testing
has been completed tomorrow we will be able to give a firmer indication of the
expected reopening time, but we wanted to give you as much information as we
can now to provide reassurance and enable you to prepare.

At this
time of year we get a lot of questions about university admissions tests and
English language tests. There seems to be some confusion as to how the results
of the tests get sent to your university choices. So we’ve picked out some of
the main admissions and language tests which we're getting questions on and explained how the results find their way to your
university choices. Click on the relevant test to see full information on their
official website.

At the time
of registering for LNAT, you need to enter the UCAS personal ID number. The
result of the test and the essay will then be sent to the university choices
stated on your UCAS application form.

Candidates
taking the LNAT before 15 January 2013 will have their results emailed to them
in early February 2013. Candidates taking the test after 15 January 2013 will get
them in early July 2013.

You will
have been given a copy of your test results before you left the test centre.

After
the 15 October UCAS application deadline Pearson Vue, who run the UKCAT test,
contact UCAS to get details regarding the Consortium Universities you’ve
applied to. Your results are then passed
on by Pearson Vue to your university choices. They can’t pass your mark onto
any universities outside the Consortium.

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Further to the issues we have experienced with GTTR Apply, here is an update on the current situation. We really appreciate your patience with this and are sorry for the inconvenience:

Following
technical issues experienced shortly after the original launch last Wednesday,
GTTR Apply 2013 was taken offline whilst we carried out essential maintenance.
Our technical team implemented a number of fixes which were successfully tested,
in both test and live environments. Testing confirmed that GTTR Apply 2013 was
performing as we would expect and it was agreed that we would reopen the application
system, which we then made available on Tuesday 16 October at 17:45 (UK time).

Shortly after
reopening GTTR Apply 2013, a different technical issue was experienced that
made it very difficult – and sometimes impossible – for people to log in. When
they did manage to get into it, the connection was often terminated partway through their application.
We took GTTR Apply 2013 offline because it makes it easier to resolve the
technical issues, and also because it makes the application process fairer if
we do it this way.

Initial
analysis of this issue has found that it is not related to the number of users
at any one time.

Our technical
experts have been working 24/7 on this problem, which has now been escalated to
experts from the suppliers. They are working hard to diagnose the issues and
propose solutions, so it will take time for us to fully understand the root
cause and implement a suitable fix. It will then require a minimum of a day to
test thoroughly.

Tuesday, 9 October 2012

The 15 October
deadline for Oxbridge applications and applications for medicine, dentistry and
veterinary medicine/science is almost upon us! As I’m sure your tutors and
advisers will have mentioned more than a couple of times, this is an important
deadline and late applications are rarely considered by the universities. So, to
make sure there’s no last-minute drama, I’ve gathered together the sort of
issues that usually cause applications to be submitted late and given some
advice on how to prevent them happening to you!

Know your login details for Apply

Make sure you know your login details, as you'll need
to log in to Apply to send your application. Use the login reminder service on
the Apply page if you're not sure. You can also find guidance on login problems
for Applyhere

Send it earlier if you can

The deadline is midnight on 15 October (23:59 UK time)
but try to send it sooner in case you experience any problems, eg internet
connection issues, payment problems.

Be prepared for any payment issues

You must pay for your application before it can be
sent to UCAS.If you enter
invalid payment details five times, you will be locked out from making any more
payment attempts- if this
happens, you'll need to call us so send your application early just in case.
You can get some guidance on payment problemshere

If you're applying through a school or college,
they'll need time to review your application

Your tutor needs time to complete the reference
section and check and approve your application before they send it to UCAS. If
they spot any errors, they'll send your application back to you to amend. If
this happens, you need to change it and send it back to them, so that they can
send it to us. It may not happen, but it's good to allow time for this just in
case. Simply sending it to your school or college before the deadline won't
count as sending it on time; it has to be received by UCAS.

You need a reference before you can send your application
to us

However you request a reference (whether you're
applying independently or through a school or college), you still need to have
a reference attached to your application before it can be sent to UCAS.

If you're applying independently, allow enough time
for your referee to read the instructions, write and attach the reference, and
confirm that it has been completed. A red tick will appear next to the
'reference' link in Apply once it's complete. This means you can complete the
rest of the application and send it to us.

If you're applying through a school or college, send your
application to them early to allow them time to do write the reference and
carry out the other checks before the deadline.

If you've agreed with the universities that a reference
is not required - check the information on thereference pageto see what to do.